July 08, 2007

Quinoa Is Good, This Post Is Incoherent

Quinoa; it’s pronounced keen-wah, but don’t feel bad if you’ve pronounced it qwin-oh-a, you’re in good company with yours truly.I’ve got it straight now though and I’m using it in more cooking ventures as a result.My current favourite way to use quinoa is in this zesty salad.There are no measurements for it because it changes every time I make it.If you don’t like one ingredient, don’t use it, if you really like another, use more of it, it’s as simple as that.I had good intentions of submitting this salad to Lisa and Kelly’s Salad Stravaganza but it just didn’t happen and since I'm ridiculously late, the round up is already posted, (go check it out for 49 other ways to make salad).I blame my poor timing on the fact that I’ve been a spacecadet lately.Today, for example, I tried to make lemon chicken with rice and somehow ended up with lemon pork and quinoa.Dinner music was provided courtesy of the smoke detector, which howled as a reminder to keep better watch of the stove so as not to burn the lemon sauce.But more on that disaster another day. Lemon chicken is one of my favourite dishes so I want to make sure to do it justice, (and that requires me to be conscious enough to remember all of the ingredients).Now where was I?Off in space again.Hey- did you know that an ostrich’s kick is powerful enough to kill a lion?True story.

Quinoa has a texture sort of like small beads... and if you don't eat beads, then it's not unlike small couscous. The flavour is fairly mild with a hint of nuttiness. It takes on the flavour of whatever else you're cooking it with, much like rice does.